Luik Plays Major Role - Leads MPNPT Tallinn Day 1A

Day 1A of MPN Poker Tour Tallinn has drawn to a close and Roland Luik is the man who has finished on top of the remaining 53 players to head the chip counts.

The day opened 2019’s tour in style – a healthy throng visiting the snowy capital of Estonia and gathering in the Hilton Tallinn Park Hotel to do battle for the trophy and the title. With a €200,000 guaranteed prizepool to fight for, the €500+50 tournament was keenly contested – an impressive 154 entries in total building throughout the day, as new players joined and freshly eliminated players invested another bullet in their bid for glory.

Keep up Mateusz!

Amongst their number were some familiar, experienced faces. Mateusz Moolhuizen has had several deep runs at MPNPT events – his best showing a 4th place finish in Morocco last year – and despite a shakey start, he survived the day to finish with 56,400 chips.

Meanwhile Moolhuizen’s girlfriend Dehlia De Jong was also showing her own poker chops, as she too bagged up a fine 89,600 come the end of the day, giving her bragging rights for now over her beau.

Keimo Suominen has fond memories in Estonia, having won MPNPT Tallinn in 2017. He’ll have some work ahead of him however as he didn’t make it through the day so he has until the end of level 13 on day 2 to fire another bullet. Alex Hendriks was another who can point to an MPNPT victory on his poker CV having scooped the 2018 Bratislava title. The dream of an unprecedented MPNPT double title remains in reach as Hendriks bagged up 107,700 once play had closed for the day.

However it was local boy Roland Luik who spent the day springboarding up through the counts to finish with a magnificent 219,700 – which will give him every shot at mounting a challenge for the title. He finished just a whisker ahead of MPNPT regular Jari Hurri – whose early misfortune in busting several bullets was transformed later in the day as he accumulated a giant stack that will see him return with a good chance of a deep run.

The poker today was fun, friendly and filled with drama. We anticipate more of the same and an even larger field tomorrow as Day 1B kicks off. Join us at 12:00 sharp for the resumption and for now thanks for following. Full chip counts below: